Mailbag: Fed up with school traffic

I have been writing to the school board and talking to the police department for years now regarding the traffic on Doran Street when R.D. White Elementary School lets its students out for the day. It is getting ridiculous that nothing is being done to rectify this matter. Last Wednesday, the traffic was bumper to bumper from Glendale Avenue to Balboa Avenue. The same in the opposite direction.

My driveway is being used for the drivers’ own personal use. They pull into my back patio so they can pull their cars straight forward for their children. They even leave their car and wait in front of the school yard. When I tell them this is private property, I get told to (expletive) and that it is only for one minute. Well, it it one minute too long. My tenants, gardener, friends and myself cannot get into my own driveway. Every day I have to put a barricade in my driveway with the signs posted about parking. I should not have to be doing this. They even block my driveway and put their emergency blinkers on when there is absolutely nothing wrong with their cars.

It appears that the school system does not teach safety. I see it every day when parents jaywalk across the street, put one hand out for other drivers to stop and have their child’s hand in the other. If safety was properly taught in the classroom, you would think that the child would say to his or her parent “we need to use the crosswalk.” Maybe they need to teach the parents.

I’m sure the other residents on this street will agree with me as I also see them having to put cones and their own vehicles in their driveway so they won’t be abused by rude drivers.

Now they are building more classrooms, which means more cars, the same as the rest of the concrete jungle this town has turned into. When is it going to stop?

I am reaching out to the school board and city officials to please do something about this situation. It is long overdue.

Lorie Lieberman
Glendale

Eatery site needs cleanup

We have heard and read about the battle between the developers and the neighbors as well as our own City Council regarding the Recess restaurant site, but does anyone bother to do anything about the dead plant life and trees as well as the trash that has been left behind in the neighborhood? Since the former occupant left, it has fallen into an eyesore on one of the busiest streets in town. I drive or walk by it daily and keep thinking who with the city is going to do anything about it? Obviously it won’t be the developer or the property’s owners. Doesn’t anyone at City Hall ever drive by this location? Or am I the only one who cares?

William Slaughter
Glendale